The present invention relates generally to containers for storing and transporting goods, and in particular to palletized containers used for storing and shipping relatively large goods.
The packaging and shipping of larger items, such as lawn tractors, refrigerators, or the like, can be quite costly and labor intensive. Such large items are usually packaged and shipped on containers that are constructed on top of a pallet, thereby allowing them to be lifted by a forklift truck, or the like. Due to the size of the items being packaged and shipped, they are customarily placed on the pallet prior to the container being completely assembled. Once on the pallet, the container is usually constructed around the item, and thereby secures the item in the container. The containers may be constructed to allow themselves to be stacked on top of each other after they are constructed and filled with the desired items.
In the past, the construction of the containers has been a fairly time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive task. The construction of the container typically required the use of fasteners to secure the parts of the containers together. The fasteners, such as nails, screws, or the like, add an expense to the price of the container. Moreover, the use of these fasteners requires not only the alignment of the container parts, but the subsequent insertion of the fastener into the parts to be secured together. The use of fasteners also renders the disassembly of the container more time consuming and expensive, and further may diminish the ability of the container to be reused. While nails and screws can be used to reassemble the container multiple times, eventually the recurrent nailing or screwing of the container components in the same places will cause the parts to wear out. Replacement of the worn out parts is a further disadvantage of prior art containers. The time, effort, and financial expense of constructing, using, and reusing prior palletized containers has created the desire for containers that are easier to construct and deconstruct and that are less expensive.